Saturday, April 13, 2024

Cookoff in Apex, NC, Features Top Barbecue Teams Again

Finishing third overall was Blue & Gray BBQ, which placed first in the ribs category. Photo: Blue & Gray BBQ via Facebook.

Peak City Pig Fest continues to earn accolades for featuring some of the best barbecue cooking teams that compete in contests sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society. In addition to being a fun event each year for the town of Apex, NC, the Pig Fest has a long history of supporting its community. 

The chicken entry by Swine ‘N’ Roses looks wonderful; however, the team managed just an eleventh-place finish in that meat category. Photo: Swine 'N' Roses via Facebook.

Organized by the Sunrise Rotary Club of Apex, the Pig Fest has contributed more than $500,000 to local charities; the primary one this year is Western Wake Crisis Ministries

Smokin Skullies BBQ won first place in the brisket category with a perfect score of 180
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At the start of the judges’ meeting, organizer Graham Wilson announced that 25 teams were competing — a few new ones but most were elite teams that had been competitors before. They were vying for the $10,800 in prize money.

The judges get organized before their meeting begins.

To judge the entries of all the cooking teams, four tables of judges with a table captain were needed. The table where I was assigned included judges with a wide range of experiences, including one who was participating in just his third cookoff.

In addition to the barbecue cookoff, the Pig Fest includes a two-day street scene with live entertainment, food trucks, beer garden, sponsor displays, and vendors.

Before the contest began, the favorite team to win was Mcadoo Heights, which had been the grand champion in the previous two years. However, this year they slipped to 10th place overall, although they did win first place in the pork category.

Mcadoo Heights won first prize in the brisket category. Photo: Mcadoo Heights via Facebook.

The winning team was Optimus Swine from Williamsburg, Va. Although they did not win in any meat category, they placed second in both ribs and chicken. Their lowest finish was fifth place in brisket, and overall they accumulated more points than any other team. 

Optimus Swine went home with the top cash prize, trophies as Grand Champion and winner of the People's Choice contest, and awards for three meat categories.

Apex has always been one of my favorite contest sites. Now that I live just 15 minutes away, it’s even more enjoyable to be a judge at the Pig Fest. I hope to be able to continue to participate in this event. It’s a worthwhile event for the local community.

Cooking teams set up in off-street locations in downtown Apex.

Friday, April 5, 2024

90 Years and Counting: Continuing the Barbecue Tradition at Holland’s Church

The quiet, rural community around Holland's Church knows where to find excellent barbecue. 

When a community has been fixin’ barbecue for 90 years, it has to be good. Located nine miles south of downtown Raleigh, NC, near the intersection of two historic roads, Old Stage and Ten-Ten, Holland’s Church has been doing just that for nine decades. 

The popular barbecue is served in clamshell boxes with potatoes, coleslaw, and hushpuppies.

The church serves its barbecue, potatoes, coleslaw, and hushpuppies in a clamshell box, and runners carry the boxes to tables as people arrive. (There is no standing in line.) Tea (sweet) and water are the beverages. Homemade desserts (pies and cakes) available by the slice are on another table. To-go plates can also be bought as well as containers of barbecue and freshly made pork skins. 

The efficient kitchen crew prepares the clamshell boxes quickly.

Until recently, the barbecue dinner was served family style. After paying at the door, people were seated at tables where bowls of barbecue, coleslaw, potatoes, and hushpuppies were placed, and they were joined by other community members. Everyone could eat as much as they liked.

Runners carry the clamshell boxes to tables as customers arrive.

Preparing barbecue plates has been a tradition at the church for several generations. Every April and November, the church’s members renew their long-standing ritual. However, the church was 122 years old before it began contributing annually to the region’s barbecue culture. 

The dessert table adds an extra sweetness to the day.

This Methodist congregation was established in 1812. Holland’s Church quickly became the center of a community in southern Wake County that was generally isolated from other pockets of population and the evolving city of Raleigh (established as the county seat and state capital only a few years earlier in 1792). This location was being settled before railroads were built in the area.

The eat-in area begins to fill up when the serving line opens at 11 a.m.

In fact, the church predates two major railroads built in the state. The North Carolina Railroad, which connected cities in the Piedmont to those on the Atlantic coast, was chartered in 1849 by the state legislature and opened for operation in 1851. The Chatham Railroad, connecting Chatham County (west of Wake) to Raleigh, opened in 1869.

Trays of pork skins are available at each table.

The church is named for William Holland, who was born in Chester, England, in 1750 and immigrated to Wake County. Before dying on December 4, 1809, the former English schoolmaster had prepared a will that provided $400 “to build a good Methodist Meeting House, that may have a partition at one end thereof for a classroom.” Holland is buried in the church’s cemetery.

The to-go line stays busy throughout the day.

The church was used as a school, a tribute to Holland’s desire that the church include an “educational enterprise.” Believed to be the first school in the county outside the city of Raleigh, this use signified “its established position in the life of the community,” according to the historical text “Early Methodist Meeting Houses in Wake County, North Carolina” by G. Franklin Grill, a church historian. 

Hushpuppy batter is ready for frying at the prep area outside the church.

Nothing in historical records indicates when Holland’s Church also became the center of barbecue excellence. To celebrate the 90th anniversary, the church offered a free plate to anyone who was 90 or older. Imagine being 90 years old and having been part of this barbecue tradition for decades. It would be a life worth living.